This thesis shows the meaning of the European Union pre-accession funds in terms of financing the development of member states, precisely Republic of Croatia, before its accession to the European Union. European Union funds are designed to reduce regional disparities between member states and candidate states, to strengthen the state institutions in order to integrate more faster in the European Union system and for preparation for using Structural and Cohesion funds after accession to the European Union. The thesis is chronologically showing the possibilities which are provided to the Republic of Croatia through various programs and the success they made when used. Pre-accession funds in our country were a great opportunity for young farmers to support the funding of their own projects in which they certainly would not have entered without that aids. Moreover, the situation in our agriculture is very difficult and only few farmers decide to enter into any kind of risk. How to get closer to the European Union funds, how to apply, are questions which wasn't easy finding an answer to, because managing in this whole subject was extremely difficult. Despite that, in a concrete example in this thesis, it will be shown in which way did a little farm in Varaždin County successfully applied and used the funds from the IPARD programme. Also, in what way were those successfully given funds used for their own sustainable development and for the benefit of the wider community.